ALICIA SOUZA

Bengaluru-based artist, Alicia Souza, calls herself a happiness illustrator. Drawing professionally for under a decade, Alicia “never thought it would ever” become a career for her. After struggling for a year, the 33year-old realised she could take this up professionally. “I knew I wanted to illustrate by the end of university, but I realised that it was a career that’s going to move slowly, as things started working out,” she says. Her work being story-based, Alicia says she likes to think of a cool storyline before beginning to illustrate. Drawing autobiographical cartoons about her life and her “two fur-balls” (Charlie, an Indie stray and Henryoats, a hamster), Alicia says, “You don’t find your niche of what to draw by scouting for people to like your work. You do your work, and people who like it will find you,” adding, “if you work the market, one can find several streams to make an income.”